Saturday, 21 March 2015

It's been a funny old week. Some weeks are rally long - you remember every day and what goes on - this week I feel like someone has pinched 2 days - it's flown by. I have no idea where it went or what I have been doing.But I do know I did my journal today. It's such a beautiful sunny day I brought out my ice cream stamps. These are a Woodware set and quite old now. The scene is created with layers and masks to get the illusion of a group. I 'undercoated' the ice cream tops with a few coats of Dylusions White Linen because I wanted to see if I could get a thicker ice creamy look to it - then dried it with my heat gun before adding the other Dylusions colours. It has worked really well I think.The glass dishes are just shaded with bit more of the same ink and the Funky Fuchsia added for a bit of depth.I have used white drawing ink and a pointed pen nib to doodle highlights over the top - I love the way the inks soak up through the ink and it ends up a pale and solid type highlight.

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Bit of a shout out here. An amazing team of dedicated lasses put together a free digital image site where you can pick up different images everyday.free digital stampsI have been dipping in and out of this site for meany years now - since I first worked for Ali who started it all.As a serious techie hater - I really do appreciate it!!Lovekitten

Saturday, 14 March 2015

Started this a bit late - it has been so busy I could not get started. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do though - so it didn't take long to put togetherI spritzed the background in Dylusions Lemon Zest and Fresh Lime - but I tried not to blend them - I wanted it to sit in drops. Then I gently heat set it without dabbing off the excess. I quite like the sort of 'scaly' speckled pattern it produces when the ink gets driven out to the edge of the blob and leaves an uneven edge.

The feather is stamped 3 timed in Memento Northern Pine - heat set - then the centre is embossed with green glitter embossing powder. I have a feather stamp set that has the background block outline of the feather - and another of the veined inner - so you can layer them up. (I will be getting some feather shaped stamps in soon I hope). There is also a bit of stitching on tails of the feathers - you don't see stitching so much these days.

I often use a bit of paint to colour my embossing paste - but I wanted to see if you can use Dylusions inks - and yes you can. Put a small amount of paste onto a saucer - spritz 1 spray and blend in well. You will find that the paste breaks up for a while - but keep blending until it is a consistent texture - then add another spray and work that well in. I added 3 sprays in total and it is a lovely pale colour - I inked over the top with a bit of Memento for a bit of varience

I really love this page - I really feel I am getting my mojo backI am going to enter this project in the 'Just Us Girls' Trend week challenge - I really must get my feet back out there in the challenge pond ;-)

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Thursday is usually a fairly quiet day and as the shop next door is closed it has become known as floor day'. I get all the boxes, baskets and clutter off the shop floor and wash the floor. It's very overcast today- and I don't want to put in all that effort if it's going to rain (far too exhausting!) - so I am having a bit of a catch up with listing on the website.As you all know - anything computerese is definitely NOT my favourite thing in the whole wide world to do but for various reasons it has been left to slide these past 6 months or so. I am making a really big effort to get all the stock levels up to date and all the extra bits and bobs listed. New to the site is the jewellery section - It's steadily growing as I get more stock in and go back and list other stock - so keep a keen eye open on that - and if y ou are a jewellery maker - let me know what you would like to see added.It's so good to have my panels back in order - I might re-do this one tomorrow and get all the stamps out.

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Morning all - this is a tag that I put together late yesterday using the Dylutions Vibrant Turquoise. It is actually quite a dark teal colour really. There is a solid 'shadow' feather stamped in the background with Memento Pine trees and a bit of a collage over the top - - really pretty

Sunday, 8 March 2015

It's Sunday - but the shop is open because the Kendal Food Festival is on. I like to open when something is going on in the town - the organisers work so very hard all year to put these events on - and it's a shame for the visitors to be greeted by loads of closed shops. I always have plenty of odd jobs to catch up with so I don't mind pottering on with stuff.Knowing that I would be open today - the journal was planned as a 2 day event too! I love the idea that you can put Dylusions ink straight into a water brush and colour and draw with it. I do use distress ink refills for this - but it's quite a faff and you never get consistent results because it depends on how much water you add - plus I am not fussy about the 'grunge' look.Thsi is sort of Zen-tangled on the page first - then coloured with inks - the I found an image of a giraffe - cut the shape out along with a circle for the sun - held them down onto the page and rubbed a black paint over them.

The outlines and doodles are done in a white drawing ink and sharp dip pen nib - I still can't find a decent, true, non-splodge white ink in a pen!

I love the way the white has drawn up the ink through the black and turned it into the colours that are underneath - cool.

Next time my underneath patterns need to be smaller I think.Lovekitten

Friday, 6 March 2015

I saw this on Mila Lija's blog a few weeks ago while I was on one of my blog hunts

And I thought - that's pretty - I have got a grunge board key plate sort of like that - so I dug it out

Then I found an interesting image - this is a stamp from Sweetpea Stamps

And I picked up an old box canvas from the charity shop for £1 - this one has a hard board back so it's nice and firm

No overall plan as yet - but I am going to work on the back ground first. Be warned - this is an ongoing big project and I am just sooo busy in the shop it will take me a good while to do it - and anyway - in the interests of 'mindfulness' I want to take a bit of time to think about it and enjoy the process.

Thursday, 5 March 2015

There has been a trend growing in the quilting world for a while now - it'd called the Progress Pledge. Basically you promise to show your work as it develops - warts and all - rather than just show the finished project.It's a bad habit of mine - I am hopeless at taking photos - I get too carried away with what I am doing and I forget to add stages of development and processes.So here is my promise:-I have made a process pledge. The goal of the process pledge is to create a new sensibility in quilting blogs our work where we don’t just show finishes or occasionally confess about our moments of indecision, but chat openly and often about our works in progress, our inspirations, and our moments of decision. I know that many of us are already posting about our thinking and the processes involved from start to finish, let's do more! And let's post about our projects as we work on them. I want to see more half-done pages, not just the finished thing with a journal entry about the process.

Tuesday, 3 March 2015

OK - I have to admit that these 'grew' over the weekend - it's not just today's work.I wanted to showcase each of my new Dylusions colours - so they are fairly plain and simple. Bear in mind that these are just my basic bog standard white tags that I stock at 5p each.Lemon Zest - Funky Fuchsia - Fresh Lime

Sunday, 1 March 2015

I have spent hours on the website this week - getting the deliveries listed properly - getting the counts right - filling in gaps - adding categories - etc. It is going to take me a while to get fully back on track - and there will always be areas that need more work - but I am making great progress now. I defiantly work best on my own - there was a reason my report card said 'does not play nice with others' ;-). Last summer I had a lunchtime helper in the shop - and far from freeing me up to do other stuff - it really restricted me. Now I really feel that things are falling nicely back into place and I am in control of it all. People often ask how on earth how I keep track of it all - and I do misplace things - but I see it all in and I see it all out - so I have a broad idea.The Jewellery section is growing - and this whole section in the shop is getting more and more things added - I am in the process of expanding into larger storage. We are now the ONLY shop in Kendal working with jewellery makers and we are so chuffed that you trust us to supply you with your needs. Just let me know what you need adding to the range and I will find it for you. We do only stock fashion/costume type findings - sterling silver is just too expensive for me to keep in stock - but I can order it in for you.I spend all weekend in my 'rest' mode with my feet up being brought food and tea (and wine) on line - researching and looking for goodies for the shop and chatting to reps / suppliers / studios / artists all over the world - the Internet is just amazing - and people are almost always so willing to help and explain - I have only ever had a couple of knock-backs so never be afraid to have a go and ask.So - any feed-back you have over my website - or this blog - always willing to hear Lovekitten

Saturday, 28 February 2015

Hay - new inks to play with - yum yumI treated myself to Lemon Zest - Fresh Lime - Funky Fuchsia and White Linen. It's so unusual to have a white in the mix - white ink is not easy to create and work with. So - be kind - first attempt

My all time fave stamp - moon gazing hare - actually all the stamps are Crafty Individuals - you can't see - but the hare has a glitzy green crown and pattern on his flank - the quote is embossed in glitter green - the dragonfly wings are silver embossed - and there is glitter on the cow parsley flowers. I don't think I could live with out glitter.I think I was being a bit 'precious' - the inks are very - VERY - thin and runny - and my journal is quite small (nowhere as big as Dyan's ) - and I had just cleaned out the kitchen (Saturday morning routine - sooooo good to be back to it - love it) - and I was trying to hard be neat!I mixed the background with my 3 colours - then heat set it. There is a spritz of white in the middle through the only 'proper' stencil I have. When that was dry I spritzed through one of these fancy cut cup cake thingies-wot-its (see the technical jargon there ;-) ). I heat set everything before I over stamped with Memento inks. To do the hare - wings - quote - I sprayed just the lime onto white card and left it to dry - then stamped / embossed over the top.I really want to use the idea of 'setting' the colours - then working over the top - and over - and layers to create my backgrounds. with my cavnas projects I think I am more 'controlled' than Dyan - not sure if that is the calligrapher part of me coming through - but I want to be more mixed media-ish - kind of a cross between Dyan Reaveley and FinnabairAnd I think I should be doing more tags (I have the wall space!) - perhaps I should aim for a 'tag' day once in a while.Lovekitten

Thursday, 26 February 2015

I took the decision not top go to the big Stitches trade show this year. It was a really hard one to make as I just love going to the show - catching up with all the guys - having a good old gossip - and playing with all the new ranges that are coming out - as well as spend loads of money on you guys ;-). This year the last 6 months has really taken it's toll - and although I am really improving - I thought it would just be silly to overexert myself that much. Plus I don't know how the swollen discs in my back would behave spending all that time on my feet with a growing basket over my shoulder.So what I have done instead is take the money I would have spent on hotel and petrol - and invest it into some new stuff. I am going to stock the Dyan Reaveley range of inks and (coming soon we hope) paints (they are not out yet). If Jenni did a spritz range I would have automatically picked that up - but she doesn't, so I spent hours and hours researching the various brands be I decided to go with these.I saw her live a couple of years ago - she really is a larger than life character - this insert is quite a long one - but you can really see her style and techniques

Tuesday, 24 February 2015

My son sells them on his market stall - and I just can't keep up with demand. This is a new pattern I have just charted up - it's a big and baggy shape that seems to be popular. I have the space invaders done, and a Pacman and Ghostie one to follow. I am really dead chuffed by the way I have got the top shaping - it goes up in a star pattern - so cool.The pattern is on my site to download - and on Kindle - the pacman one should be ready by the end of the week.Lovekitten

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Yes - I know it's Sunday but I didn't finish yesterday in time to post.How does that song go - 'it's been a perfect day - I'm glad I spent in the shop' - well something like that.I actually got the last kitchen cupboard door finished and re-hung - I spent the morning doing the tidying and cleaning - washed the kitchen worktop down and polished both desks - such a joy to be getting back into my happy place all neat and tidy.Then I had the afternoon to play work - that would be work.

I have been putting a lot of study into ink spritzing - these are the old style Adirondack colour wash sprays. Mine are at least 8 years old - but they are still available. Trouble is - I find the colours just too dark and muted for me. Looking at the Dyan Reavely videos I am being too gentle and I need to add a heavier coating. There is a pile of torn scraps piled on top. Then my famous swirl - this time used as a flower stem with all sorts of flower sequins added (with gem centers of course). The spritz over the top of the papers is my new Irresistible Texture Spray - I have just picked up all the metallic colours for the shop and the neon ones are due in next month. I love all the Tsuineko inks and I hope to add the other colours if these go down well.

The butterflies are new buttons I have in - with a thick coating of crackle glaze - I will rub in a bit of walnut stain when I get back to the shop on Tuesday - it was not dry when I left.

Next time I am going to be really brave and add loads more of the ink to start with and make puddles of colour - eek